Text of the Inauguaral Speech of President of Mushawarat, Mr Navaid Hamid, delivered at Platinium Jubilee Celebrations of Tirurangadi Yateemkhana, Mallapuram, Kerala on Saturday, the 17th February 2018.

Righteous is not that you turn faces towards the east or the west, but (true) righteous is (in) one who believes in Allah, the last day, the angles, the Book, and the Prophets and give wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller, those who ask for help, and for freeing slaves.

The Prophet SAW guided: I and the Guardian of the Orphan will be in paradise like this putting his Index finger and middle finger together. (Sahi Bukhari)

Respected Mr. President, Office bearers of Tirurangadi Yateem Khana, Honorable Members of the Legislative Assembly of Kerala, distinguish guests, staff members and assembled friends and dear inmates of Tirurangadi Yateemkhana

السلام علیکم و رحمۃ اللہ وبرکاتہ

At the outset, I wish to express my gratitude and profound thanks to the organizers for inviting me to attend the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Tirurangadi Yatheemkhana being commemorated under the aegis of Tirurangadi Muslim Orphanage Committee. My special thanks to Janab ET Basheer Mohammad, the honorable Member of Parliament for suggesting my name to the organizers on one hand and for encouraging me to be part of this great celebrations of achievements and services.

Friends! You all are aware that Celebrations are important part of human life. In the evolution of mankind, there have been instances when societies have rejoiced and celebrated for accomplishing targets. Real celebrations are those which erupts because of end results of the spontaneous acclamation of successful, uninterrupted and remarkable achievements of individuals or journeys of institutions which had left an imprint on the history of sociology & research by identifying and encouraging hidden treasurers to blossom and share the aroma of their fragrance. Celebrations are also a kind of expressions to thank Almighty Allah SWT as for accomplishing our tasks.

We need to recall and understand that the period when this illustrious institution was established, was the period of natural and human made calamities – wars, strife, conflicts and epidemics. Also that11th December in history is remembered for different reasons – both good and bad. Two years before the noble initiative of setting up this illustrious institution in this remote area of our nation, the intensity of the Second World War was at its peak. Important nations aligned with major war players in the world have jumped in the disastrous war with Dutch Government in London declaring war on Italy on one side and Germany & Italy jointly declaring war on USA on the other. The madness of war has orphaned millions of children and widowed unaccounted young ladies. The attention of whole world was on winning war and defeating others. The Nation State’s agenda was to subjugate and conquer other’s territories without bothering about the consequences of the disastrous results i.e. the huge number of orphans and widows beside damage to the ecological system because of the inventions of the new non conventional weapons.

In India also, the situation was not better as the British Crown, against whom there was huge peoples uprising as millions across the country had united under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, vigorously demanding the British Crown to leave India after Congress party had declared “Quit India Movement” against the British Rule just around 16 months before the establishment of this illustrious institution. The priorities of the occupying power being a major war partner in second world war and that of the nationalists were different at that juncture of history. The year 1943 was also the year of natural calamities in India as more than 2.1 million citizens have died in famine in Bengal from starvation and disease aggravated by the malnutrition, displacement of a large number of population and hunger.

As Bengal was witnessing the famine, the hapless population of the southern most parts of India were struggling to survive because of the outbreak of deadly cholera. So at a time when the ordinary citizens were in dire need of the society’s care, affection, better health facilities and look after because of the natural calamities including scourge of cholera, the year 1943 saw launching of a a noble mission when three noble souls namely, Late KM Seethi sahib, MK Haaji Sahib and KM Moulvi Sahib together had join hands to plant a sapling of compassion, mercy and care and to give the sense of fatherhood to the needy – the orphans who lost their patrons at the fag end of the year on the eleventh day of December.

In my humble opinion, 11th December 1943 would always be remember as a day of remembrance for conviction to serve the needy and also a mile stone in the history of the institution because of firm conviction and commitment of these three noble souls who with all their selfless commitment, to help the most disadvantageous group, had pledged to establish an orphanage for the needy. It is our paramount duty to not only remember these noble souls but also to laud their yeoman services.

Permit me to add here that the three noble souls have established the Yateemkhana and had entered this noble sphere to shoulder responsibilty of guardianship of the most needy strata of society three years before the launching of UNICEF by United Nations. UNICEF was no doubt launched to look after the destitutes and Orphans of second world war BUT in my humble opinion the world powers who were themselves responsible for the massive catastrophy – for deaths and destructions and for snatching the guardianship from young and old women and the children making them orphans with no one to look after them, have indeed decided to establish UNICEF as an act of penance and in state of guilt where as in the outskirts of Calicut, the Yateemkhana was established by the God fearing three friends not only with full sense of spiritual responsibility but also because of the profound belief to follow the teachings of Islam which guides mankind to act compasionately and to extend hand of patronage to destitutes and orphans.

It’s matter of great pride that the Tirurngadi Yatheemkhana has taken care of around 8000 orphans in its history of 75 years. It is also a matter of great satisfaction that the Tirurangadi Muslim Orphanage has opened its door to orphans of all religions. The move is in total consonance of the Islamic teachings and humane in nature. I congratulate the Managing Committee for this noble gesture as followers of Islam, we all know that a true Muslim would never differentiate between people in needs as we firmly believe that Almighty Allah is Rubul Aalameen and it is our fundamental duty to extend help to all destitute irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

One of the fundamental message and guiding principle in running the Orphanage homes is that the orphans should not be restricted to Orphanage but there should be sustained efforts to make them responsible and empowered citizens. The rich history of the Tirurngadi Yatheemkhana is full of those true examples where we can proudly find that the institution has done all its best possible efforts to make these orphans not only as responsible and empowered citizens but also the guiding figures in society who after graduating from the institute have become guiding force and light houses for others and have taken responsibility to become fatherly figures for others who are in dire need of help. I humbly join a vast numbers of admirers in extending my profound thanks to the committee for making all required efforts to create a sense of togetherness blended with compassion and mercy.

It is matter of further satisfaction that the Committee has not stopped in just establishing or running an Orphanage but is engaged in remarkable yeoman services by extending its area of activities and influence by establishing other institutions too including Schools, Post Graduate Colleges, Health Care Centres and Hospitals. The Yateemkhana has added another glittering milestone in its list of achievement when it had establised its College in the same year of 1968 when the Kerala State Government has established Calicut University. I further feel privileged to extend my feliciation to the Alumini, staff and the Management of Pocker Sahib Memorial Orphanage College in celebrating its Golden Jubilee Celebrations today.

Before I conclude, I consider it as my paramount duty to request the youngsters to take inspirations from the glittering history of the Tirurangadi Muslim Orphanage Committee and its founders. The challenges which the community is facing now demands our selfless commitments to work for the empowerment of the weakest amongst us. Our commitment and conviction for and even a small engagement in charity might become an act of Salvation on the day of the judgement.

With these words, I feel honored to join you in celebrating the achievements and services of this illustrious institution. And with all humility, feel further honored in declaring the Platenium Jubilee Celeberations open with the prayer on lips that May Almighty Allah SWT accept the services of the founders of Yateemkhana along with the services of all those who have served the insitution in any manner in last seventy five years.